Defence Magazine

Wordsmith

Getting to the core of business

Ric Smith

Each new year brings with it fresh opportunities and fresh challenges, and 2005 certainly offers plenty of both.

The CDF and I have set the three core-goals we seek from ourselves and from all of you. They are:

To extend our military excellence.
To develop excellence in management.
To enhance our policy standing in Canberra.

These goals are expressed in Defence Priorities 2005 - the document that CDF and I released at the Senior Leadership Summit in early February and which is featured in this edition of the magazine.

Military excellence will always be the fundamental outcome we seek to deliver. Our operational performance in recent years has been exemplary and has won Australia respect and accolades from allies and friends, throughout the world.

But to maintain our comparative position, the ADF needs to be continuously moving forward. This is, therefore, a goal which is related to everything we do in Defence, from recruitment and training to capability and concept development for operations.

Excellence in management has been my personal goal since becoming Secretary. We are now expected to perform not just as a government agency, but to the management standards of the corporate sector.

The development of stronger performance management regimes, and a robust system of authority and accountability for the consistent delivery of high quality advice and results, are critical elements for Defence's success.

We must engender in our management practice the same levels of personal commitment to solve problems and deliver focussed actions and value-adding results as we see in our operational performance.

The final goal - enhancing our policy standing - remains a challenge for all of us, particularly in Canberra. The policy environment is changing. It is now true that few, if any, processes of Government are the responsibility of a single organisation. In so much of what we do, we now work with and alongside other government agencies. Whole-of-Government outcomes and approaches - on issues from counter-terrorism to information management - are necessary to the challenges we face. This does not diminish Defence's responsibility to contribute to, and in fact lead, the national debate in areas specific to the defence component of national security policy, and even to some issues relating to Government procurement policy and industry skilling.

We need to be acutely aware of the dynamics of the policy environment and of the mechanics of the government arena. We have also committed to invest in and further professionalise the policy workforce within Defence, and develop and sustain innovative policy outcomes that shape the agenda and lead reform across Government.

These three goals are at the core of the trusted relationship we seek with our Ministers, with Government and with the Australian people. Our capacity to set our own direction and manage our affairs will be compromised if we don't get it right.

In meeting these challenges, our sense of compassion and responsibility for each other needs to be retained. The duty of care we have for our colleagues extends beyond the legislated requirements for occupational health and safety and workplace ethics and diversity. It encompasses the duty to be mindful of each others needs, to achieve a work-life balance and to be courteous and professional in our dealings.

For supervisors, this also means training, guiding and consistently communicating about the work of your organisation, to ensure all team members contribute to achieving the outcomes we are collectively responsible for.

Don't be so consumed by your own in-tray and your own responsibilities that you neglect the simple facts of working together with your people to achieve and sustain success.

And finally, don't let poor performance stand. We are all responsible for ensuring that we learn the basics of our trades, apply common sense and sound judgment to the tasks we must perform, and reinforce the good habits amongst and between the teams to which we contribute.

As 2005 unfolds, I look forward to working with you to achieve the results Government expects from us.

Special tribute to tsunami effort

In closing, I want to pay special tribute - and offer my personal thanks - to the many people across Defence who made such a significant contribution to the relief effort following the tragedy brought about by the Indian Ocean tsunami on Boxing Day.

While the role of the ADF deployed to the affected areas has been widely acknowledged, and quite rightly praised, I know that there has been significant effort behind the scenes.

I note here the efforts of planning staffs support and logistics units in their contribution to the deployment activity, but also the tremendous work done in Canberra by a range of civilian and military personnel.

I know that many people were called in from Christmas leave to play their part in the planning and coordination of the whole-of-government relief effort.

I am also aware that many staff from International Policy Division (Strategy Group) made themselves available at short notice to help with the national call centre, set up by our colleagues in Foreign Affairs. I was pleased to be present, during a visit to the Defence National Storage and Distribution Centre at Moorebank on February 9, when Chief Joint Logistics (Air Vice- Marshal Spence) and the Commander Defence National Storage and Distribution Centre (Captain Fraser) presented awards to Sergeant Maree Stevenson, Private Michael Huxley and Private Joshua Woods for their special efforts in preparing relief supplies for Operation Sumatra Assist.

Well done, Moorebank.

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